Trump moves to add 30 nations to travel ban in sweeping migration push

The Trump administration is preparing to widen its travel ban to roughly 30 additional countries, moving swiftly after last week’s shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, according CBS news. One Guard member was killed and another critically injured, prompting the White House to escalate its push to restrict migration.

A Department of Homeland Security official said a list of the new countries is expected soon. The administration already enforces a full block on travellers from 12 nations and applies partial restrictions on seven others.

President Donald Trump has threatened a series of measures in response to the attack, which federal authorities say was carried out by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who previously worked with U.S. forces and the CIA before arriving in the country in 2021.

Trump and his allies have used the incident to fault former President Joe Biden for permitting Lakanwal’s entry and to rally support for tougher limits. In recent days, Trump has outlined steps including halting admissions from certain developing countries, revoking citizenship for some naturalised migrants, and ending federal benefits for non-citizens.

While much of the plan remains undefined, expanding the travel ban, one of Trump’s most controversial policies dating back to his first term, would mark one of the administration’s clearest moves to curb legal migration. Trump’s original ban underwent years of litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld it as “squarely within the scope of Presidential authority.” He reinstated the policy earlier this year.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday that she met with Trump to recommend the move, though she did not specify the number of countries involved. “I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” she wrote on X.

The countries currently facing a full ban include Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Partial restrictions apply to Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued new guidance instructing officers to consider a country’s presence on the travel-ban list as a “significant negative factor.” The State Department has also paused all visa issuances to Afghan nationals applying with Afghan passports, including Special Immigrant Visas.

Trump said last week he would move to “permanently” pause migration from “all Third World Countries.” But the administration had already tightened immigration rules before the National Guard shooting, cutting the refugee cap, cancelling temporary protected status for several groups, imposing a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas, and revoking thousands of visas.